Residents living west of the 99 freeway got a glimpse of how the candidates running to represent them on Fresno City Council will advocate for their neighborhood in a forum at the Teague Community Resource Center on Monday.
More than 40 residents turned out to hear policy positions from the four candidates competing in the June primary in a forum organized by Highway City Community Development, Inc. and the League of Women Voters.
Competing in the four-way race to replace Annalisa Perea on the Fresno City Council are small business owner Monte Forkas, State Center Community College District Trustee Rob Fuentes, the City of Fresno’s ADA Coordinator Joe Hinojosa and Central Unified Trustee Naindeep Singh.
The District 1 candidates talked about sprawl, broken sidewalk networks and more in the 90-minute forum, fielding questions from both the nonprofits that organized it and residents who submitted question cards during the forum.
Candidates are gearing up for the June 2 primary, when dozens of local seats are at stake in Fresno County.
What did the candidates say?
April Henry, executive director of Highway City Community Development, told the candidates that according to the organization’s assessment, there are approximately 30 miles of streets in the west area that lack sidewalks alongside them in a question about remedying the disparity.
Multiple candidates emphasized the need for improved infrastructure for residents west of 99, though they had different ideas of how to get there.
Fuentes said the answer lies largely in the city’s budget decisions.
“We need to have a budget process that’s making determinations based on the needs of the community, and that’s based on equity determinations,” he said, “and so making sure that we’re prioritizing those parts of the city — the parts of the west side, in particular — that have that infrastructure patchwork.”
Singh, the only candidate among the four who lives in the part of District 1 west of 99, advocated for the city to set aside its own funding to build out sidewalks rather than getting lost in a game of finger-pointing with the county over the hodgepodge of land belonging to each jurisdiction in the west area.
“When you live out here, you know what ends up happening is the city points at the county, the county points at the city, and nothing gets done,” he said. “What we need is to actually have a city fund, where that is matched by county, where we can actually take care of these problems and not just push them off for another generation.”
Hinojosa invoked the recently passed West Area Neighborhoods Specific Plan — the land use policy roadmap for parts of Fresno City Council Districts 1, 2 and 3 that lie west of the 99 and north of Clinton — stating that he wants to follow through on that plan with actual city dollars.
He added that his support of the specific plan goes hand-in-hand with his opposition to Mayor Jerry Dyer’s Southeast Development Area growth plan.
“A big part of funding the plan would be, I am against SEDA. SEDA would draw a lot of funds away from west of 99,” Hinojosa said, “and transfer those funds to a community that doesn’t want to be part of the City of Fresno at the end of the day.”
Hinojosa’s comments were far from the only time SEDA came up on Monday.
One attendee submitted a question asking the attendees to hold up signs saying “yes” or “no” as to whether they opposed SEDA. All four held up their “yes” signs.
But it was a two-part question. The second part asked the candidates to answer whether they’ve received campaign contributions from donors “connected to the development of SEDA.” Forkas, Hinojosa and Singh held up “no” signs, while Fuentes held up a “yes.”
According to Fuentes’ most recent campaign filing, he has received a $2,000 donation from Dyer’s 2024 mayoral committee. In 2025, Fuentes also received a $2,500 donation from Lance-Kashian & Company. The owner Ed Kashian, a major retail developer in Fresno behind the $200 million Fancher Creek regional mall in southeast, recently authored an op-ed defending SEDA.
What were some points of contention?
“Personal attacks” were against the rules on Monday, but that didn’t mean the candidates played nice the whole time.
Hinojosa took a swing at the “political elite” in response to a question about challenges to getting work done in District 1.
“The barriers are the political elite that have held District 1 captive,” he said. “There’s one person up here that was chosen by the political elite two years ago and moved into the district one year ago.”
Earlier in the forum, candidates shared how long they had each lived in District 1, and Fuentes had stated he had lived in the district for about a year while Forkas said he’d been a resident for 24 years and Singh since at least 2022.
In a text message Tuesday morning, Hinojosa confirmed his comments were about Fuentes and doubled down on his criticism that Fuentes moved to the district solely to run for the District 1 seat with the backing of sitting elected officials.
In a brief interview following the forum, Fuentes responded to the comments he believed were directed at him, saying he’s dedicated his life to serving the Fresno community and that he’s proud of the broad coalition that’s endorsing him, including the Fresno Teachers Association and the Fresno City Firefighters Association.
“To me, what that shows is that they consider me the front-runner,” Fuentes said, “and so they’re using personal attacks in order to try to bring themselves up.”
The candidates were also split on what letter grade the city deserves as far as transparency goes.
Singh gave an “F,” Hinojosa an “F-minus.”
Singh invoked some of Fresnoland’s recent investigations into the city’s secret budget subcommittee meetings and millions of dollars in council contracts that skirted public oversight as examples of non-transparent practices.
Forkas gave a “D-minus” and said there should be stronger relationships between councilmembers and their constituents, starting with himself.
Fuentes gave the city the highest grade of “C-minus,” though he echoed the need for reforms following the city’s questionable interpretation of the Brown Act.
But he added that he believes some councilmembers are better than others “in terms of being in their community, in terms of holding town halls, holding forums, going to neighborhood watch group meetings, and so that’s why I have this middle grade.”
Fives weeks out from the primary
This was one of two forums taking place west of 99 this week, with another planned for Wednesday night at the Sikh Institute of Fresno (4827 N. Parkway Drive) from 5 to 7 p.m.
The Big Red Church of Fresno (2131 N. Van Ness Ave.) is also hosting a candidate forum for District 1 from 6 to 7 p.m. on May 18.
The primary election is set for June 2, and mail-in ballots will start going out to voters May 4.
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